My Fate Ablaze
by Baoulicious
Summary: As the flames of disaster slowly consume the world, Shadow races to find help and maybe even clear his name... with an old acquaintance tagging along for the ride.


Set in the game world, spoilers for Shadow's story in the Next-Gen game abound.

* * *

This wasn't happening. This _wasn't happening_. It was obviously some… sick dream. Perhaps Black Doom had revived himself and was out for revenge. That made far more sense than what was happening right now. This being real would just be absurd! Not after all he had done! 

Unfortunately for the ultimate life form, it was happening. Sonic was dead. Rouge had been arrested for being an "accomplice." The doctor was nowhere to be found. Omega was probably in standby mode somewhere, no thanks to the humans. The flames had taken over half the planet. And the entire world had their fingers pointed at their once upon a time hero.

Shadow clenched his fists as he stood atop the highest skyscraper in Station Square. There was absolutely nowhere for him to go. Whatever parts of the world that hadn't already been burned to nothing all believed this was his fault.

These flames… These monstrous flames… How the hell could HE have done something like this!? Had they already forgotten he had single handedly sent the Black Arms to their graves!? Did his near-death from stopping the Biolizard mean nothing now!? And furthermore, had they forgotten he had not ONCE used fire to do any of these things!?

Shadow shook his head and stared down at the street. It was no use being angry - despite how justified his anger was. These humans were more like animals than he or Sonic or any of Sonic's friends would ever be, scurrying around and putting all blame on the first scapegoat they could get their hands on, attacking it like a pack of wild animals.

Black Doom's voice hauntingly came to him. Taunting him, laughing at him. Shadow had been wrong to save the humans, the voice told him, and it was going to be his end.

"No…" Shadow spoke to the voice. "Even if they betray me like this… Even if no one in this world believes in me… I'll fight them to the end!"

The voice didn't seem impressed. It merely kept laughing knowingly, as if it knew Shadow was finally going to get paid back for killing the Black Arms leader. Shadow would have like to pointed that out to the voice, but there really was no point. He could use a little conversation right about now, no matter how he felt about who it was coming from.

Was he going insane? Probably. But what did it matter anymore? He was the most wanted thing on the planet - every child knew his face as the one to blame for why they'd never see mommy and daddy again. Ever wife knew him to be the reason their husbands were never coming home. Who cared if he went crazy along the way?

No one cared. No one. A laugh came from the black hedgehog, and he looked behind him - as if Doom's Eye would be there once more, giving him orders and commanding him not to hurt the Black Arms.

"Sorry, Black Doom, but I told you already. I decide my own destiny. Not you, not Sonic, and _definitely_ not those pathetic humans."

And with that, Shadow leapt off the skyscraper. The car he landed on was ruined by the impact. All the man that was just getting out could see was a yellow blur.

Maybe Tails would be able to help him. Or at the very least give him an aspirin.

That was what Shadow had hoped, in any case, until he got to the little workshop on the cliff where the fox seemed to reside at. Or rather, what was left of it. Either the flames or maybe some humans had gotten to him first, in some racist fury. To not be human in these times, thanks to Shadow (apparently) was a bad thing to be. Either way, Shadow wasn't going to be finding any assistance here.

Just like I told you, came that voice again. Shadow leered behind him once again, though the spot his mind's eye saw Doom's Eye in was still vacant. Typical. _You really should have listen to me before, Shadow… You wouldn't be in this mess now if the Black Arms had turned this filthy species into the only thing they could ever be good for, you know. _

"Buzz off," replied Shadow, before light dashing across a cliff and heading towards one of Dr. Robotnik's bases. Maybe he'd be lucky. He'd even be glad for some kind of device he could use to attempt to contact the doctor, at this point.

Make me. _Oh wait… You can't, can you? You're just as pathetic as the humans! _

Not wanting to give it the pleasure of knowing it was starting to get a rise out of him, Shadow ignored the voice and merely sped up. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the base… Which, while it lacked the destruction the flames had caused everywhere else, it was also… barren. Deserted. He wouldn't find any answers here.

"We have you surrounded! You will surrender to us peacefully!"

Well well, looks like it's the end of the line! About time, you traitor.

"I told you to stop talking," Shadow muttered, long over the fact that he was talking to no one but himself.

And **I** told **you** to help me conquer this world, and look where **that** ended up.

… The hallucination was probably on to something there, because Shadow could do nothing but agree with it's statement. Considering a comeback, Shadow turned towards the source of the voice to see just what he was up against.

And it was not a pretty sight. It looked as though all of G.U.N. was here, just to get him. The Commander must have been having an absolute field day with this - despite the destruction all over the world. With that thought in mind, he held up his hands and looked at the front most tank.

"And if I don't surrender at all?" taunted Shadow. As if he would ever do something like surrender. Black Arms soldier, android, clone, ultimate life form… No matter what 'Shadow' might have been standing here, it would be the same no matter what.

"Then you will be forced to come with us and suffer for all the crimes you've committed!" Oh that was _definitely_ the Commander's voice.

Hahaha… That human seems to have a personal vendetta against you. How amusing.

"You're telling me," Shadow replied, scanning the military force before him for a weak spot. A good place to start.

You're probably not going to escape this alive, you know. Have anything to say to me before you die?

"Yeah, I do," Shadow shot a look behind him and he could have sworn he saw the towering form of the alien overlord behind him. He gave the illusion a smirk. "On the slight off chance I don't escape here, I'll pay you a visit in hell."

The hallucination did not reply to that. Perhaps because it had gotten what it wanted - for Shadow to admit that this was going to be the end for him. It didn't really matter. In fact, Shadow had come to realize that at this point, nothing mattered. Nothing they could do to him now could hurt him. In some bizarre sense, Shadow was invincible now.

You keep telling yourself that, Shadow. 

"I will," Shadow told Black Doom as-a-matter-of-factly, giving the bodiless voice a grin. With that said, he leapt into the air and did what he did best to every last thing he could get his hands on.

This seemed to go on for hours. Shadow would destroy a G.U.N. mech and ten would take it's place. One Beetle destroyed, thirty ready to shoot him down. Even so, Shadow was more than a match for the amazing numbers. Leave it to G.U.N. to do something stupid like this and leave them with nothing to fight the flames with once the hedgehog was dead.

Not that Shadow cared much anymore.

"Unleash the secret weapon!" came the commander's voice as Shadow smashed through what had been an especially annoying enemy. Shadow would have really liked to at least punch that man before this was over, but as the "secret weapon" came into view, Shadow realized that he wouldn't get the chance.

"Target acquired. Initiating battle mode," And there, the 'secret weapon' of G.U.N., stood none other than Shadow's comrade - or former comrade, apparently - E-123 Omega.

"So that's where you got to," Shadow mused as he took a fighting stance. In the back of his mind, he had always wondered what it would be like to fight the robot. It looked like he was finally getting the chance.

Ho ho, looks like I'll be getting more entertainment out of this than I thought…! A fight to the death against a former comrade!

"At least one of us is enjoying himself," was the sarcastic reply as the ultimate life form went into a spin dash towards Omega.

The robot merely deflected Shadow into the arms of a mech, which Shadow quickly burst through with a homing attack aimed at Omega. Dodging bullets from all sides in mid air was no easy task, but as Shadow bounced off Omega's head and onto the ground behind the robot, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.

It's such a shame it's all going to end in a few minutes, isn't it?

Shadow ignored the comment, and instead made the critical error of trying another homing attack - just as Omega fired his lasers and cannons all at once. With no time to change his flight path, the only thing left to do now was brace for impact.

"Initiating capture sequence," came the mechanical voice as Shadow crashed to the ground and Omega's arms began glowing, charging up who knew what. Shadow watched and awaited his end…

And faced with that, Shadow could only laugh. He couldn't help it. Of all the things to do, they had forcibly made the last person he could probably hope to rely on into the thing that would end this chase. Humans were truly the cruelest and most pathetic species in the universe. It was so… funny. Even Doom was laughing with him ("at him" might have been a better word choice), and the chorus of laughs was both disturbing and calming in these last moments.

"Forgive me, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Amongst Black Doom's laughter, his own gone now, that was the last thing the black hedgehog would ever hear.


End file.
